Gas supplies tight after pipeline shut down

PHOENIX, ARIZONA — Gasoline here has been treated like liquid gold in the week and a half since safety concerns shut down a pipeline that delivers a third of the city's supply.

Motorists drove on fumes from gas station to gas station Sunday night, searching for one that still had fuel.

The stations still open had drivers lined up for hours waiting for their chance to pump--and pay an increasingly high price for the privilege.

"I've been losing money for the last week," cab driver Dominick Santandrea said, complaining about prices in the $1.90-a-gallon range Sunday. "If this keeps up, the cab rates will go up."

The pipeline between Phoenix and Tucson ruptured July 30, spilling about 12,000 gallons of fuel, and the operator shut it down Aug. 8 because of concerns that there could be more problems.

Since then, gas has been trucked up from Tucson, and AAA has been urging drivers not to panic.

"If people are panic buying, there is no need to panic. There is fuel coming into Arizona at the same amount as two weeks ago. It is just extremely slow," AAA Arizona spokeswoman Kim Pappas-Miller said.

"People are mistaking slow distribution with a fear that we are running out of gas, and that is not happening at all."